World Without End

Encode to Washington.

No signal from XRM

since last reported at 0118.

- No further contact from XRM.

- That means trouble?

- Not necessarily.

- They cut off in the middle of a message.

- Could be radio trouble.

- What do people at White Sands say?

- No comment.

- Do you think they've crashed?

We don't think anything.

We just don't know.

- Excuse me.

- But, major...

Excuse me.

I'm sorry, Mrs. Jaffe.

Would you care to wait in my office?

- You'll be more comfortable there.

- No, thank you.

I'd better take the children home.

I want Daddy to come home with us.

He can't, Ginny. He's very far away.

Yes, very far.

Will you call me, please,

if you hear any news?

Yes, of course I will.

The moment we hear anything.

Thank you.

Why would a guy

with a wife and a couple of kids...

...wanna go

on a crazy expedition like that?

Has man's first flight into space

ended in disaster?

Dr. Eldon Galbraithe

and his crew of adventurers...

...are unreported for many hours...

...and grave fears are

felt for their safety.

Henry Jaffe,

navigator of the spaceship XRM...

...last reported that the ship

was approaching the planet Mars.

In the midst of a transmission

in which he described...

...the fabulous ice-capped poles of

the red planet, contact was suddenly lost.

All over the world, radio operators

are trying to reestablish contact.

Dr. Galbraithe, I still can't get anything.

- Are you sure it's not the equipment?

No, no, that's okay.

We lost contact

when we entered Mars' magnetic field.

Probably regain it as soon as we leave.

If we don't get it soon,

people will be worried about us.

We'll head for home

as soon as we complete the orbit, Henry.

John, look at this.

Ten degrees right, 15 degrees depress.

If only we knew what that green stuff is.

Perhaps it's a sort of moss or lichen.

If it's grass or a type of grass...

...there's no reason

why there can't be life on Mars.

So near and yet so far away.

- I wish we could land.

- So do I, John.

But our mission

is reconnaissance, exploration.

If we try to land now and crash...

...all the information we've gathered

crashes with us.

We'll be back.

And next time, we will land.

Henry, lay out a return flight plan

for 0200 departure.

Check.

- Herb.

Soon as your radio starts working again,

tell them we made two orbits of Mars.

Equator at 30,000 feet,

pole to pole at 20,000.

Complete photomapping all the way.

Tell them we've completed

all assignments and we're coming home.

Right.

Here's your initial heading, John.

Good. Prepare for standard acceleration.

- Home and mother.

We're heading for the barn.

What a reception we'll get.

My creditors will be deliriously happy.

All rockets forward.

Rockets forward, check.

Cut off at 15 miles per second.

Cut off at 15 miles per second, check.

- All set?

Right.

Here we go.

Speed, 15 miles per second.

- Acceleration leveling off.

Good.

You all right, doc?

Okay here.

There it goes, the planet Mars.

- Sliding into the distance.

- It'll be there when we come back.

I'll drink to that.

Who's for a slug of coffee?

Hull temperature going up.

Acceleration increasing.

We've lost flying attitude.

We're spinning!

Reverse rockets.

Reverse rockets!

I can't. I can't make it.

Our speed has reached

30 miles per second.

Hull temperature above danger point.

Seventy-eight miles per second.

Hey. Hey, we've landed.

My head. I have a terrible headache.

Oh, I've never been knocked out

like this before.

The acceleration

must have been fantastic.

It was. Look here.

- What?

Over a hundred miles per second.

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